


Cocoa Beach Confidential

by tablelamp



Category: Bewitched (TV 1964), Crossover Fandom, I Dream of Jeannie
Genre: Bonding, Chance Meetings, Conversations, Crossover, Effects of Gaslighting, Gen, reassurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2019-11-12 01:11:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18000947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablelamp/pseuds/tablelamp
Summary: Gladys wasn't the kind of person who liked taking it easy.  It had been Abner's idea to go on vacation.





	Cocoa Beach Confidential

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Karios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karios/gifts).



Gladys wasn't the kind of person who liked taking it easy. It had been Abner's idea to go on vacation.

"We could get away from it all," he'd said, tactfully leaving out that part of "it all" was Gladys's continued assertions that something very strange was going on at the Stephens' house. Gladys knew Abner must be tired of hearing about the things she'd seen, but she'd told Abner the truth all her life and wasn't about to stop now. Even if he did think she was...well, imagining things was the tactful way to put it. Sometimes, Gladys wondered if Abner was right. How could it be that no one else, including the whole Stephens family, ever saw anything peculiar?

So here Gladys was in Cocoa Beach, sitting on a towel on the sand, trying to look as if she were having a good time. At least she wasn't in the direct sun; Abner had bought a gigantic beach umbrella so they wouldn't get overheated. He was off buying ice cream now, although with this heat Gladys wondered if the ice cream would survive the trip back.

Suddenly, a man in a blue uniform--Air Force, Gladys thought--appeared. Just appeared, out of thin air, almost knee-deep in the middle of the water. Gladys closed her eyes for a moment, squeezing them shut and resisting the urge to call Abner. Air Force officers didn't appear standing in the ocean. They just didn't. She opened her eyes again to see that the man was emerging from the water, a chagrined expression on his face. 

"Excuse me, madam," the man said. "May I sit here and empty the water out of my shoes?"

Gladys edged away from the man, hoping he'd disappear soon. She'd been so sure that everything was normal here, that she wasn't going to start seeing things again. "Go away!"

"Believe me, I'd like nothing better," the man said with a long-suffering air. "In fact, I'm not entirely sure..." He trailed off, clearly seeing that Gladys was nervous, and shook his head. "Never mind."

Now her curiosity was piqued, and if there was one thing Gladys couldn't ignore, it was her own curiosity. "You're not sure what?"

The man shook his head, lowering himself into a seated position on Abner's towel. "I can't tell you. You're a hallucination." He began untying his shoelaces.

"I am not! You're the hallucination!" Gladys said indignantly. "You showed up out of nowhere, and you'll be gone before Abner gets back."

The man frowned at her, pulling off one of his shoes and pouring out the remaining seawater. "That's what you saw? Me appearing?"

Gladys nodded. "And now you're going to tell me you didn't, that you were there the whole time and the light from the water got in my eyes. Or you fell off a boat and swam to shore." There was always a perfectly logical explanation for what was going on, though it was usually more complicated than what had seemed to happen.

"No," the man said, emptying his other shoe. "As far as I'm concerned, a moment ago I was standing in my office and now I've appeared here."

Gladys reached out and poked the man in the arm. He felt real. "If you just...appeared...how did you do it?"

"I don't know," the man said, resigned. He set his shoes in the sun to dry and began to remove his wet socks. "Things like this are always happening to me."

Gladys couldn't hide her surprise. "They ARE?"

"Yes," the man said. "Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself. Dr. Alfred Bellows."

"Gladys Kravitz," Gladys answered, shaking Dr. Bellows's hand. "What kind of doctor?"

Dr. Bellows made a pained face. "A psychiatrist."

This was the best news Gladys had ever heard. "You are? And strange things are always happening to you? And you don't think you're crazy?"

"Well," Dr. Bellows said hesitantly.

"You DO! Oh, that's wonderful!"

Dr. Bellows was looking nonplussed. "Why?"

"Because the same things happen to me! Trees grow and shrink in my neighbors' yard! Furniture moves around their living room all by itself! But you've seen it too. You know I'm not crazy." 

"Well, no," Dr. Bellows said slowly. "I had always assumed I was, and if you've been experiencing the same things..."

Gladys crossed her arms. "Then how did you get from your office to here? What part of crazy explains that?" Dr. Bellows opened his mouth to answer, but Gladys interrupted before he could. "Even if you'd walked here and forgotten, why would you walk into the ocean?"

"Why indeed?" Dr. Bellows said, nodding.

"And why would I say you popped in out of nowhere?" Gladys asked. "I've been here the whole time. If you'd walked into the ocean, I would've seen you do it."

Dr. Bellows was beginning to look hopeful. "You really did see what I experienced?"

"You appeared, all right," Gladys said with an emphatic nod.

"This is astonishing!" Dr. Bellows said. "If this is true, we're dealing with something beyond the established bounds of science!"

"I know!" Gladys said. It was wonderful to have someone understand how bizarre all this was.

"Tell me," Dr. Bellows said eagerly, "tell me, is there one person who always seems to be there when strange things happen?"

Gladys felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle up. "Yes! You too?"

"Yes!" Dr. Bellows looked almost triumphant. "This must be able to be studied and explained...wouldn't you think?"

"I would if we did it," Gladys said. "No one else ever seems to notice."

Dr. Bellows deflated slightly at that. "True." He looked thoughtful. "But perhaps that's part of the phenomenon. It's hidden from all but a few."

That made more sense than any explanation Gladys had heard so far, but she wondered what made her different enough from Abner that she could see it and he couldn't. She wondered if there was a Mrs. Bellows who didn't notice these things either. Or maybe she did notice but didn't want her husband to think she was seeing things. "Why us?"

"I'm not sure," Dr. Bellows said, patting his pockets. "I wish I were in my office so I could take notes."

"Where is your office?" Gladys looked around, but she didn't see anything that looked like an office building near the beach.

"I work on Cape Canaveral," Dr. Bellows said.

"Well, this is Cocoa Beach," Gladys said. She'd seen Cape Canaveral postcards for sale in the hotel gift shop. "So you didn't go too far."

Dr. Bellows looked around. "Oh, yes, there's the pier." He turned his attention back to Gladys. "Are you from Cocoa Beach?"

"No," Gladys said. "My husband Abner and I live in the suburbs in New York."

"So you wouldn't know Tony Nelson," Dr. Bellows said, looking disappointed.

Gladys shook her head. "Have you met Samantha Stephens?"

Dr. Bellows shook his head. "So whatever's causing these strange events can't be limited to just one person."

"Do you think they're related?" Gladys asked.

"It's possible, though I've never heard Tony mention a sister," Dr. Bellows said, looking thoughtful.

"And I'm sure Samantha would've said something about having a brother before now," Gladys said, frowning. "Or I would've met him. Her mother's over there all the time."

"It could be that certain people are magnets for unusual activity," Dr. Bellows said. "Your neighbor and my co-worker might attract this type of event."

"Like the Bermuda Triangle," Gladys said, "but for people?"

"Precisely," Dr. Bellows said. "They may even be unaware of it themselves, but you and I are well-positioned to observe."

Gladys liked the way Dr. Bellows put things. It made her sound...well...special. She'd been thinking about the things she'd seen as though they were bad luck, but maybe it was a talent to be able to see them at all. "If we're the only ones who see it, should we be writing it down somewhere?"

"That's an excellent idea," Dr. Bellows said. "If you'll make notes of what you observe and send them to me, I'll make notes of what I observe and send them to you. It may be that you and I will begin to see similarities that will help us understand what's happening around us more fully."

Gladys nodded; writing down what happened would only be one extra step anyway. "It's such a relief to know somebody believes me."

"Yes," Dr. Bellows said. "It is for me too."

Gladys opened her purse, rummaging around inside. "I've got a little notebook here somewhere. You can give me your address, and when I write to you, you'll have mine." She retrieved the notebook and small pencil and handed it to Dr. Bellows, who began to write down his address.

"Care to introduce me to your friend?" Abner asked.

Gladys hadn't even seen Abner approaching; she'd been too excited about talking with Dr. Bellows, which made her feel a little disloyal. "Oh, hello, Abner! This is Dr. Alfred Bellows."

Abner handed Gladys her ice cream, still trying to figure out what Dr. Bellows was doing here. "Pleased to meet you, Dr. Bellows. I didn't get enough ice cream for you."

"That's all right," Dr. Bellows said, sounding pleasant. "I was just discussing a very important scientific study."

Now Abner looked skeptical. "With Gladys?"

"For your information," Gladys said, "I have lots of things to say."

"Now that I believe," Abner said.

Gladys gave Abner a dirty look.

"Your wife has been very helpful," Dr. Bellows said, giving Abner a polite smile. "She's provided me with invaluable background information that I wouldn't have considered before. I expect her correspondence will help shape my entire conception of this project."

Abner looked surprised, but shrugged. "I don't get it, but okay."

Abner couldn't spoil Gladys's good mood, not now. Dr. Bellows believed her, and together, they were going to get to the bottom of what was going on around them. She knew it.

Dr. Bellows handed Gladys her notebook back. "Here you are, Mrs. Kravitz. And may I just say--" But before he could say anything further, he disappeared.

Gladys had been expecting that. She was surprised it had taken so long. She ate some ice cream and then looked up at Abner, who stood frozen, ice cream dripping down his hand. "Abner, eat your ice cream. You're making a mess."

Abner made no move to eat his ice cream. "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know," Gladys said. "Maybe Cape Canaveral." With any luck, he'd gone back to his office, although she knew she'd find out whether or not she was right when he wrote to her.

Abner looked at Gladys, still agog. "How can you be so calm? A man just vanished before our eyes."

Gladys nodded. "I know."

"You know?" Abner repeated, mystified.

Gladys shrugged. "You should pay more attention when I tell you things, Abner." She glanced over at Dr. Bellows's shoes and socks, which were still drying in the sun. She'd take them back to the hotel; they ought to have a way for her to mail him his things.

Abner sat down heavily on the towel beside hers. "Maybe I should." He took a lick of his ice cream.

Gladys smiled. She might enjoy this vacation after all.


End file.
